No more virtual troll dolls from distant relatives on Facebook? OH, NO!

This is sad news for my second-cousin-once-removed, and awesome news for all the rest of us sick of fending off virtual plants, teddy bears, and rolls of toilet paper: Facebook is shutting down its Gift Shop as of August 1.

If I just ruined your day…I’m really sorry. For lots of reasons.

Facebook says it’s shutting down the gift shop to focus on “improving and enhancing products and features that people use every day, such as Photos, News Feed, Inbox, games, comments, the ‘Like’ button and the Wall.”

Yeah, because I’m sure maintaining the Gift Shop was really hard work. Better theory: They’re getting rid of it because it represents a juvenile MySpace-y-ness that FB wants to leave in the past as it aspires to become the engine that powers every aspect of our lives.

The bad news is that invitations to Cartoon Yourself, Join My Family Tree, and engage in virtual farming (really, everybody?) will continue unabated. Those are third-party apps continuing to thrive off of people’s unrelenting hunger to stay on Facebook for longer than anyone really should.

Gosh… Does this post sound like a Friday-afternoon-4:45-pm post to you? Time for a weekend! I had a blast sitting in on the show today, as always.